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PAN-AMERICANISM 




AN ADDRESS 



BY 



Honorable Robert Lansing 

SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES i 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



Second Pan-American Scientific Congress 



AT 



WASHINGTON. D. C, DECEMBER 27, 1915 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1915 



PAN-AMERICANIS 



AN ADDRESS 



BY 



Honorable Robert Lansing 

SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



Second Pan-American Scientific Congress 



AT 



WASHINGTON. D. C, DECEMBER 27, 1915 






0. of S)« 
SEP Id 1918 



fc3 



/I 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Congress: 

It is an especial gratification to me to address you to-day, 
not only as the officer of the United States who invited you 
to attend this great Scientific Congress of the American 
Republics, but also as the presiding member of the Governing 
Board of the Pan-American Union. In this dual capacity I 
have the honor and the pleasure to welcome you, gentlemen, 
to the capital of this country, in the full confidence that your 
deliberations will be of mutual benefit in your various spheres 
of thought and research, and not only in your individual 
spheres but in the all-embracing sphere of Pan-American 
unity and fraternity which is so near to the hearts of us all. 

It is the Pan-American spirit and the policy of Pan- 
Americanism to which I would for a few moments direct 
your attention at this early meeting of the Congress, since 
it is my earnest hope that "Pan-America" will be the keynote 
which will influence your relations with one another and 
inspire your thoughts and words. 

Nearly a century has passed since President Monroe pro- 
claimed to the world his famous doctrine as the national 
policy of the United States. It was founded on the principle 
that the safety of this Republic would be imperiled by the 
extension of sovereign rights by a European power over 
territory in this hemisphere. Conceived in a suspicion of 
monarchial institutions and in a full sympathy with the 
republican idea, it was uttered at a time when our neighbors 
to the south had won their independence and were gradually 
adapting themselves to the exercise of their newly acquired 
rights. To those struggling nations the doctrine became a 
shield against the great European powers, which in the spirit 
of the age coveted political control over the rich regions which 

the new-born States had made their own, 

(3) 



The United States was then a small nation, but a nation 
which had been tried in the fire; a nation whose indomitable 
will had remained unshaken by the dangers through which 
it had passed. The announcement of the Monroe Doctrine 
was a manifestation of this will. It was a courageous thing 
for President Monroe to do. It meant much in those early 
days, not only to this country but to those nations which were 
commencing a new life under the standard of liberty. How 
much it meant we can never know, since for four decades it 
remained unchallenged. 

During that period the younger Republics of America, 
giving expression to the virile spirit born of independence 
and liberal institutions, developed rapidlj^ and set their feet 
firmly on the path of national progress which has led them 
to that plane of intellectual and material prosperity which 
they to-day enjoy. 

Within recent years the Government of the United States 
has found no occasion, with the exception of the Venezuela 
boundary incident, to remind Europe that the Monroe Doc- 
trine continues unaltered a national policy of this Republic. 
The Republics of America are no longer children in the great 
family of nations. They have attained maturity. With enter- 
prise and patriotic fervor they are working out their several 
destinies. 

During this later time, when the American nations have 
come into a realization of their nationality and are fully 
conscious of the responsibilities and privileges which are 
theirs as sovereign and independent States, there has grown 
up a feeling that the Republics of this hemisphere constitute 
a group separate and apart from the other nations of the 
world, a group which is united bj?^ common ideals and common 
aspirations. I believe that this feeling is general throughout 



North and South America, and that year by year it has in- 
creased until it has become a potent influence over our politi- 
cal and commercial intercourse. It is the same feeling which, 
founded on sympathy and mutual interest, exists among the 
members of a family. It is the tie which draws together 
the twenty-one Republics and makes of them the American 
Family of Nations. 

This feeling, vague at first, has become to-day a definite 
and certain force. We term it the "Pan-American spirit," 
from which springs the international policy of Pan-Ameri- 
canism. It is that policy which is responsible for this great 
gathering of distinguished men, who represent the best and 
most advanced thought of the Americas. It is a policy which 
this Government has unhesitatingly adopted and which it will 
do all in its power to foster and promote. 

When we attempt to analyze Pan-Americanism we find 
that the essential qualities are those of the family — sympathy, 
helpfulness and a sincere desire to see another grow in pros- 
perity, absence of covetousness of another's possessions, 
absence of jealousy of another's prominence, and, above all, 
absence of that spirit of intrigue which menaces the domestic 
peace of a neighbor. Such are the qualities of the family 
tie among individuals, and such should be, and I believe are, 
the qualities which compose the tie which unites the American 
Family of Nations. 

I speak only for the Government of the United States, 
but in doing so I am sure that I express sentiments which 
will find an echo in every Republic represented here, when 
I say that the might of this country will never be exercised 
in a spirit of greed to wrest from a neighboring state its 
territory or possessions. The ambitions of this Republic do 
not lie in the path of conquest but in the paths of peace and 



6 

justice. Whenever and wherever we can we will stretch 
forth a hand to those who need help. If the sovereignty of 
a sister Republic is menaced from overseas, the power of the 
United States and, I hope and believe, the united power of 
the American Republics will constitute a bulwark which will 
protect the indejjendence and integrity of their neighbor from 
unjust invasion or aggression. The American Family of 
Nations might well take for its motto that of Dumas' famous 
musketeers, "One for ail; ail for one." 

If I liave correctly interpreted Pan-Americanism from the 
standpoint of the relations of our Governments with those 
beyond the seas, it is in entire harmony with the Monroe 
Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine is a national policy of the 
United States; Pan- Americanism is an international policy 
of the Americas. The motives are to an extent different; the 
ends sought are the same. Both can exist without impairing 
the force of either. And both do exist and, I trust, will ever 
exist in all their vigor. 

But Pan-Americanism extends beyond the sphere of 
politics and finds its application in the varied fields of human 
enterprise. Bearing in mind that the essential idea manifests 
itself in cooperation, it becomes necessary for effective coop- 
eration that we should know each other better than we do 
now. We must not only be neighbors, but friends; not only 
friends, but intimates. We must understand one another. 
We must comprehend our several needs. We must study the 
phases of material and intellectual development which enter 
into the varied problems of national progress. We should, 
therefore, when opportunity offers, come together and 
familiarize ourselves with each other's processes of thought 
in dealing with legal, economic, and educational questions. 

Commerce and industry, science and art, public and 



private law, government and education, all those great fields 
which invite the intellectual thought of man, fall within the 
province of the deliberations of this Congress. In the ex- 
change of ideas and comparison of experiences we will come 
to know one another and to carry to the nations which we 
represent a better and truer knowledge of our neighbors than 
we have had in the past. I believe that from that wider 
knowledge a mutual esteem and trust will spring which will 
unite these Republics more closely politically, commercially, 
and intellectuall}^ and will give to the Pan-American spirit 
an impulse and power which it has never known before. 

The present epoch is one which must bring home to 
every thinking American the wonderful benefits to be gained 
by trusting our neighbors and by being trusted by them, by 
cooperation and helpfulness, by a dignified regard for the 
rights of all, and by living our national lives in harmony and 
good will. 

Across the thousands of miles of the Atlantic we see 
Europe convulsed with the most terrible conflict which this 
world has ever witnessed; we see the manhood of these great 
nations shattered, their homes ruined, their productive ener- 
gies devoted to the one purpose of destroying their fellowmen. 
When we contemplate the untold misery which these once 
happy people are enduring and the heritage which they are 
transmitting to succeeding generations, we can not but con- 
trast a continent at vvar and a continent at peace. The 
spectacle teaches a lesson we can not ignore. 

If we seek the dominant ideas in world politics since we 
became independent nations, we will find that we won our 
liberties when individualism absorbed men's thoughts and 
inspired their deeds. This idea was gradually supplanted by 
that of nationalism, which found expression in the ambitions 



8 

of conquest and the greed for territory so manifest in the nine- 
teenth century. Following the impulse of nationalism the 
idea of internationalism began to develop. It appeared to 
be an increasing influence throughout the civilized world, 
when the present war of Empires, that great manifestation 
of nationalism, stayed its progress in Europe and brought 
discouragement to those who had hoped that the new idea 
would usher in an era of universal peace and justice. 

While we are not actual participants in the momentous 
struggle w^hich is shattering the ideals toward which civiliza- 
tion was moving and is breaking down those principles on 
which internationalism is founded, we stand as anxious spec- 
tators of this most terrible example of nationalism. Let us 
hope that it is the final outburst of the cardinal evils of that 
idea which has for nearly a century spread its baleful influence 
over the world. 

Pan-Americanism is an expression of the idea of inter- 
nationalism. America has become the guardian of that idea, 
which will in the end rule the world. Pan-Americanism is 
the most advanced as well as the most practical form of 
that idea. It has been made possible because of our geo- 
graphical isolation, of our similar political institutions, and 
of our common conception of human rights. Since the Euro- 
pean war began other factors have strengthened this natural 
bond and given impulse to the movement. Never before have 
our people so fully realized the significance of the words, 
"Peace" and "Fraternity." Never have the need and benefit 
of international cooperation in every form of human activity 
been so evident as they are to-day. 

The path of opportunity lies plain before us Americans. 
The government and people of every Republic should strive 
to inspire in others confidence and cooperation by exhibiting 



integrity of purpose and equity in action. Let us as members 
of this Congress, therefore, meet together on the plane of 
common interests and together seek the common good. 
Whatever is of common interest, whatever makes for the 
common good, whatever demands united effort is a fit subject 
for applied Pan-Americanism. Fraternal helpfulness is the 
keystone to the arch. Its pillars are faith and justice. 

In this great movement this congress will, I believe, play 
an exalted part. You, gentlemen, represent powerful intel- 
lectual forces in your respective countries. Together you 
represent the enlightened thought of the continent. The 
policy of Pan-Americanism is practical. The Pan-American 
spirit is ideal. It finds its source and being in the minds of 
thinking men. It is the offspring of the best, the noblest 
conception of international obligation. 

With all earnestness, therefore, I commend to you, gen- 
tlemen, the thought of the American Republics, twenty-one 
sovereign and independent nations, bound together by faith 
and justice, and firmly cemented by a sympathy which knows 
no superior and no inferior, but which recognizes only equality 
and fraternity. 



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